Aaron Macrae walks toward the Nanaimo courtroom during the opening day of his sentencing hearing in November, 2019. (CTV Vancouver Island)

By Ian Holmes

sex offender

Nanaimo man jailed after police uncover ‘astounding’ child porn collection

Sep 30, 2020 | 5:26 AM

Editor’s Note: The following story contains information that may be disturbing for some readers. Discretion is advised.

NANAIMO — A long-standing habit of collecting child pornography and disturbing interactions with underage girls caught up to a Nanaimo man.

Aaron Micheil Macrae, 36, was sentenced to 22 months in jail followed by three years probation on Monday, Sept. 28 after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing child porn.

Macrae was caught on June 20, 2018 with more than 200,000 child porn images and videos in what’s believed to be the largest bust on Vancouver Island in recent memory.

The collection included thousands of videos and images of men sexually abusing young girls, some just two or three years old, amassed by Macrae between January 2015 and April 2018.

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Large volumes of voyeuristic spy videos shot by Macrae of unsuspecting young girls in local malls and buses were also uncovered on 13 devices.

He would instruct girls between the ages of 10 and 16 to remove their clothes and perform sex acts on themselves.

The Crown’s Nick Barber asked judge Ron Lamperson for a federal prison term of three years.

“He plead guilty to something that went on for three years, by his own admission he’s been at this for 20 plus years and I have real concern that this gentleman is completely addicted,” an impassioned Barber said.

Defence lawyer Martin Screech urged the judge to not put too much weight on the size of the child porn collection while issuing his sentence.

“There are people with very large collections who are getting reasonably severe sentences, there are small collections who are not getting sentenced proportionately lower necessarily,” Screech said.

Screech requested 12 to 16 months in prison for Macrae, who had no prior criminal record.

The shocking case started with a single image of child porn posted on Instagram by Macrae.

In April, 2018 the BC Integrated Child Exploitation team tipped off Nanaimo Mounties about the image uploaded to the social media site and traced to Macrae’s IP address.

Macrae ran away from Vancouver Island after the original police raid. He was arrested six months later in Abbotsford.

Court was told despite Macrae’s positive upbringing with supportive parents, he turned to a wide range of pornography when he was 10-years-old to learn about sex.

This included looking at child pornography.

He left home at 16 due to constant disagreements with his parents over his marijuana use.

A psychologist diagnosed Macrae as depressed with mild anxiety and likely meeting the criteria for pedophilic disorder.

Macrae acknowledged sexual arousal toward adolescent females, but denied attraction to prepubescent children despite the material he possessed and his actions.

Judge Lamperson took aim at Macrae for claiming he wasn’t turned on by prepubescent children.

“I wonder why Mr. Macrae would video record a young female child on public transit focusing on her crotch if he’s not sexually aroused by pre-pubescent girls?”

Pre-sentence reports indicated Macrae is remorseful and understands the harm his child porn habits caused the victims.

“He reported that he has experienced guilt after viewing child pornography saying that he was getting gratification from viewing someone else’s trauma,” Macrae’s probation officer stated in a report.

The Wellington Secondary School grad who has a daughter didn’t formally address the court.

His jail term in a provincial penitentiary includes three years probation and numerous restrictions to separate him from minors. Macrae’s usage of the internet will be restricted and monitored during his probationary term.

Macrae will appear on the National Sex Offender Registry for life, which is a database used by police to track the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders.

The maximum penalties under the Criminal Code of Canada for possessing and distributing child porn are 10 and 14 years in prison respectively.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes

by Ian Holmes